Written Answers Friday 19 October 2007

Scottish Executive

Families

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to support grandparents.

Kenny MacAskill: The Scottish Government values grandparents and the valuable role that they play in family life and in society as a whole.

  All Our Futures; Planning for a Scotland with an Ageing Population sets the vision for a future Scotland which will value and benefit from the talents and experience of its older people and which welcomes its ageing population. The Scottish Government endorses All Our Futures as a clear strategy for the future and supports its overall conclusions.

Health

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the budget for NHS boards is allocated in recognition of rurality.

Nicola Sturgeon: The Arbuthnott Formula is the result of multiplying a series of indices together, and as such there is no specific share of the budget allocated for rurality. The formula includes an adjustment for the unavoidable excess costs of delivering services to remote and rural areas. This resulting index is used along with indices for the age-sex profile and morbidity and life circumstances of the health boards’ populations to determine how much more (or less) resource each board requires compared with its basic population share.

Justice

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to review the terms of the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 to include greater rights for grandparents.

Kenny MacAskill: We have no plans to review the terms of the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 to include greater rights for grandparents. The act came into force on 4 May 2006 and we intend to evaluate its impact in due course.

  The Charter for Grandchildren is a non-legislative document which was developed to complement the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006. Its aim is to encourage everyone involved in a child’s life to focus on their best interests and this includes having contact with wider family members. It has been distributed widely and can be downloaded from the website http://www.scotland.gov.uk/familylaw.

NHS Finance

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it accepts the recommendations of the National Resource Allocation Committee report.

Nicola Sturgeon: The report raises some very important issues which must be considered within the context of the current Spending Review. I am currently studying the report and its recommendations carefully, and have sent it to the Convener of the Health and Sport Committee asking that committee to let me have its views by the end of November. I have also sent the report to the chairs and chief executives of health boards.

NHS Finance

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the funding implications will be for each NHS board if the recommendations of the National Resource Allocation Committee are implemented.

Nicola Sturgeon: If any adjustments are made in health boards’ relative funding based on National Resource Allocation Committee’s (NRAC) report, I have confirmed that no board would receive less funding than it does at present and any changes would be phased in over a number of years as has been the practice under both the previous SHARE and Arbuthnott formulae.

  The earliest any proposed revisions to the formula could be implemented is 2009-10.

  The details of NRAC’s assessment of the impact of moving from Arbuthnott to NRAC are set out in table 7.8 on page 85 of chapter 7 of the NRAC Final Report, a copy of which is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 43807). If all NRAC’s proposed changes to the Formula were implemented then this would result in the redistribution of £81.9 million (or 1.2%) of the total HCHS budget. This relatively small percentage figure includes some significant changes for individual health boards.

NHS Finance

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it recognises the additional cost of providing health services for people from (a) disadvantaged communities and (b) rural areas.

Nicola Sturgeon: Currently the funding for Hospital and Community Health Services and GP Prescribing is distributed via the Arbuthnott Formula. The formula assesses each health board’s relative need for funding, using information about its population size and characteristics that influence the need for health care, and costs of delivery, in terms of hospital services, community services and GP prescribing. The main drivers of the formula are:

  share of the Scottish population living in the board area;

  age structure of the population and relative number of males and females;

  morbidity and life circumstances (MLC), and

  unavoidable excess costs of delivering health care in different geographical areas.

  An index is calculated for each element of the formula for each care programme in such a way that it compares each board’s position with the national average. By calculating each index in this way, the values can then be multiplied by the population share to determine how much more (or less) resource each board requires compared with its basic population share due to age-sex, MLC and unavoidable excess costs.

  In terms of disadvantaged communities, the MLC index is used alongside the age sex index to determine the health care "needs" of a health board’s population. The MLC index directs resources towards health boards with higher premature death rates and greater socio-economic deprivation.

  The excess costs index takes account of the costs of supplying health services in remote and rural areas by giving greater weight to those health boards with more sparsely distributed populations.

NHS Finance

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the budget for NHS boards is allocated in recognition of levels of deprivation.

Nicola Sturgeon: The Arbuthnott Formula is the result of multiplying a series of indices, and as such there is no specific share of the budget allocated for deprivation. The formula includes adjustments for the "needs" of the population - based on indices for the age-sex profile and morbidity and life circumstances of the health boards population. The resulting index is used along with an index of unavoidable excess costs of delivering services to remote and rural areas to determine how much more (or less) resource each board requires compared with its basic population share.

NHS Staff

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive when Agenda for Change is due to be completed.

Nicola Sturgeon: Confirming an exact date for concluding assimilation is not possible but we already have over 136,000 staff on the new pay scales and 110,000 have also been processed for payment of arrears. Some boards have concluded the exercise and the majority of other boards have very small numbers remaining. Many of these have had a pay band applied to them and are in the process of being assimilated by payroll departments.

  There are still around 18,000 staff requiring to be assimilated and we are working with and supporting health boards to conclude this process as early as possible. We are confident that everything possible is being done and are optimistic that implementation will be concluded by December 2007.

Police

Hugh O'Donnell (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many instances of assault on police officers have been reported to procurators fiscal in each court jurisdiction in each of the last five years.

Rt hon Elish Angiolini QC: The numbers of charges of assault on police officers reported to procurators fiscal in terms of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967 are shown in the following table.

  Charges: Offences Under Section 41(1)(a) of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967

  

Procurator Fiscal
2002-03
2003-04
2004-05
2005-06
2006-07


Aberdeen
290
296
284
268
243


Airdrie
275
292
272
266
226


Alloa
68
71
79
72
73


Arbroath
98
90
63
74
62


Ayr 
160
98
123
124
164


Banff
18
23
15
11
18


Campbeltown
4
18
22
31
28


Cupar
33
22
34
26
40


Dingwall
8
24
9
15
12


Dornoch
8
6
8
5
5


Dumbarton
176
252
222
283
364


Dumfries
59
66
42
58
85


Dundee
304
263
232
174
241


Dunfermline
119
121
137
169
168


Dunoon
23
26
34
31
32


Duns
3
8
12
4
5


Edinburgh
607
511
459
576
538


Elgin
78
82
60
80
71


Falkirk
161
147
165
175
139


Forfar
42
49
32
22
35


Fort William
26
22
26
34
34


Glasgow
1758
1845
1865
1832
1896


Greenock
138
119
146
160
148


Haddington
38
28
28
43
43


Hamilton
429
445
524
462
538


Inverness
165
127
157
104
107


Jedburgh
29
20
25
26
35


Kilmarnock
247
254
234
222
272


Kirkcaldy
169
159
132
143
160


Kirkcudbright
12
15
13
6
14


Kirkwall
5
3
5
6
6


Lanark
59
76
73
72
78


Lerwick
6
10
21
10
11


Linlithgow
126
102
76
84
115


Lochmaddy
5
3
4
1
0


Oban
17
11
14
25
31


Paisley
335
313
243
308
394


Peebles
10
10
1
6
12


Perth
178
214
210
171
117


Peterhead
55
49
43
68
55


Portree
5
12
3
6
6


Rothesay
6
6
9
2
14


Selkirk
37
28
29
25
13


Stirling
94
101
136
115
116


Stonehaven
17
4
20
5
9


Stornoway
13
21
28
35
22


Stranraer
46
59
45
35
45


Tain
45
49
35
29
37


Wick
19
32
20
23
40


Total
6,623
6,602
6,469
6,522
6,917



  Notes:

  1. The information in the table has been extracted from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s case management database. The database is a live, operational database used to manage the processing of reports submitted to procurators fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies. If a Procurator Fiscal amends a charge submitted by a reporting agency, the database will record details only of the amended charge.

  2. The database is charge-based. The figures quoted therefore relate to the number of charges rather than the number of individuals charged or the number of incidents that gave rise to such charges.

  3. The information in the table is restricted to charges relating to offences under Section 41(1)(a) of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967. It does not include common law charges of assault where the victim was a police officer or charges relating to assaults on police officers where the accused was charged with an offence under the Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act 2005 as such cases cannot be identified separately from charges involving assaults where the victim was not a police officer.

  4. The table reflects the position at 1 October 2007.

Police

Hugh O'Donnell (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many charges of assault on police officers have been deserted or abandoned in each court jurisdiction in each of the last five years.

Rt hon Elish Angiolini QC: The numbers of charges of assault on police officers reported to procurators fiscal in terms of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967 in each of the past five years, where court proceedings were initiated but the case was subsequently deserted or abandoned, are shown in the following table.

  Charges : Offences Under Section 41(1)(a) of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967

  Cases Deserted or Abandoned

  

Procurator Fiscal
2002-03
2003-04
2004-05
2005-06
2006-07


Aberdeen
13
15
11
7
2


Airdrie
23
11
18
7
4


Alloa
1
2
3
0
2


Arbroath
1
0
1
2
0


Ayr 
2
1
7
1
4


Banff
0
0
1
0
0


Campbeltown
0
0
0
2
0


Cupar
6
0
1
1
1


Dornoch
2
0
0
0
0


Dumbarton
11
9
19
10
14


Dumfries
2
7
2
1
4


Dundee
11
16
15
9
7


Dunfermline
2
3
4
9
15


Dunoon
4
0
1
2
2


Duns
0
0
1
0
1


Edinburgh
35
28
29
38
31


Elgin
3
3
1
2
1


Falkirk
1
2
8
1
2


Forfar
0
2
2
0
0


Fort William
0
0
0
0
4


Glasgow 
182
191
162
91
45


Greenock
4
4
8
3
1


Haddington
1
2
1
2
2


Hamilton
16
19
11
9
8


Inverness
2
3
8
8
4


Jedburgh
1
0
3
2
2


Kilmarnock
14
6
3
13
3


Kirkcaldy
9
9
14
11
11


Kirkcudbright
1
1
1
0
0


Lanark
1
1
0
0
2


Lerwick
0
1
0
0
0


Linlithgow
15
3
6
6
10


Oban
0
0
0
1
0


Paisley
26
25
9
6
20


Perth
6
10
12
15
8


Peterhead
2
3
6
0
2


Portree
1
0
0
0
1


Rothesay
0
1
1
1
0


Selkirk
4
0
5
0
0


Stirling
2
7
3
2
1


Stonehaven
0
1
0
0
0


Stranraer
2
4
1
1
3


Tain
1
0
0
0
0


Wick
0
0
0
0
1


Total
407
390
378
263
218



  Notes:

  1. The information in the table has been extracted from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s case management database. The database is a live, operational database used to manage the processing of reports submitted to Procurators Fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies. If a Procurator Fiscal amends a charge submitted by a reporting agency, the database will record details only of the amended charge.

  2. The database is charge-based. The figures quoted therefore relate to the number of charges rather than the number of individuals charged or the number of incidents that gave rise to such charges.

  3. The table reflects the position at 1 October 2007. Nearly 1,800 charges were still active at that date (including 1,352 of the charges reported in 2006-07) and no outcome had yet been recorded.

Police

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive who authorises payments by police to informants.

Kenny MacAskill: Responsibility for payments made to covert human intelligence sources rests with chief constables.

Pre-School Education

Hugh O'Donnell (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will address the issue of the 15% most deprived areas having 6% of playgroup services.

Adam Ingram: It is for local authorities and child care partnerships to consider the mix of nursery, playgroup, family centre and other services needed to meet the needs of children and families in particular areas in the way that best serves them. The Scottish Government fully expects that this mix will vary across Scotland to reflect the needs of different communities.

  The Scottish Government directly supports the core costs of the Scottish Pre-School Play Association and the Gaelic Playgroup Association CNSA which, alongside local partners, provide a range of practical support and assistance to local groups.

Pre-School Education

Christopher Harvie (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether funding is available on a cross local authority basis for the provision of necessary services, such as nursery services, on a shared basis to people in neighbouring authority areas, such as the proposed Wee Guys Nursery serving a clientele in the Fife and Perth local authority areas, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Adam Ingram: Childcare Strategy Funding is provided to local authorities through the core local government finance settlement to support the delivery of services which meet the needs of children and families. Local authorities, in conjunction with local child care partnerships, are responsible for allocating funding to individual providers in their area. Where a provider serves more than one local authority area, it would be for each child care partnership to consider the level of support they consider appropriate.

  Where children live in one local authority and receive pre-school education in another, the authority in which the provider is located generally pays for funded places, in line with Scottish Government guidance.